


Don't Lose Your Head in Technocity

by intrepidem



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cheesy movie and director references, F/M, Gen, Hinting Unrequited Love, More tags to be added, Non-Linear Narrative, Other, Thinly veiled themes, You've been warned, even more thinly veiled foreshadowing, eventually, exorJosh, hinted pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 20:03:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10974384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intrepidem/pseuds/intrepidem
Summary: What happens when Josh makes it out of the mines? What happens when he leaves someone behind, and not the other way around?A story of loss and memories. And healing. Hopefully.-This is a non-linear story that delves into some self-indulgent backstory because I love them pre-game until dawn kids. It might be worth the read. It might not be. But you won't know until you read it!





	Don't Lose Your Head in Technocity

 

 

 

 

**I'll wait for you.**

**9:54 pm **

:::

     The bitter wind whips against the trees harshly, and with it small flecks of ice are flying by, crackling against the material of Josh's vest quietly. It's cold as hell, but Josh has gotten relatively used to it in the time that he's been out here making preparations and setting up for tonight's event. Well, that in combination with the fact that he's lived in this area on and off for the better part of his life. That being said, he's been out for hours, it just started snowing again, and he can no longer feel his toes. That's not a good sign necessarily, but c'est la vie. 

     He's shoveling his snow-boot clad feet tirelessly, hearing top-layer snow and the occasional wayward twig crunch and snap pleasantly beneath his tread while going up a particularly steep incline. This is a tougher part of the mountain to be trailing, but Josh manages it as he slowly makes his way to the lodge in the area of the estate where he told everyone to meet up tonight.

     The invitation process was a nightmare. He'd gone through so many scripts in order to find the perfect way to pitch this idea to the gang, checking and triple-checking that he didn't seem suspicious or out-of-touch in his video invitation. The greeting and proposition was the easy part. It was the bringing-up-of-past-events that was the most difficult for him to handle. He practiced over and over what he was going to say, but he was constantly held back by uncertainty. It was the how to not seem angry when talking about your dead sisters to the group of people who are unapologetically responsible for their demise aspect of the whole thing that made him completely overthink his approach. He had to remind himself that their tragedy was the whole reason this event was taking place, the driving force in the plot line of his pseudo-real-life horror flick. After breaching that personal barrier, he could finally resume his dedicated exploit into movie mogul repute, following in the footsteps of his father. Maybe he'll even finally be proud of him, after this.

     Mind heavy, Josh attempts to look ahead at what's in front of him. He turns his head a fraction and to best peer through the dark, past the thick trees that surround him like a crowd. This mountain is, admittedly, not easy to navigate, especially now that the sun has gone down and he has deviated from the plowed trail where there are lamps and signs. No one else would feel as comfortable in this situation, but Josh is confident in his expeditions. He's also crafty and experienced enough to know some shortcuts, and this one is the absolute quickest way to get to the main mansion. It's been a while since he used it last, but he's keeping a keen eye out to make sure he's going the right direction. That's significantly harder to do when snow-burdened tree tops and clouds are blocking the moonlight above, making it more difficult to see than usual. He'll get there, though. Honestly, he wouldn't have been able to forget the way if he wanted to. Josh has been taking this path ever since he was a little kid back when his family would vacation on Blackwood Mountain during the summer and winter. He and his sisters used to love to explore the land by themselves when he was small and Beth and Hannah smaller, playing scavenger and claiming the territory, learning it's secrets and hiding spots. Well, Josh thought to himself, they definitely come in handy now. 

     He hurries along the trail, shoving his freezing-cold hands into his pockets. He'd washed them with snow earlier to get the residual blood off of them from when he was setting up the clown gag and the pig's head. He was grateful at least that he hadn't gotten any of that shit on his clothes and ruined his cover, but now his fingers are going numb in the cold night air. He'd kicked himself for bringing anything to clean up with, or gloves as a matter of fact—he should have thought of it before hand, he's getting so forgetful—but that doesn't matter now. All that matters is the execution of his plan. He grins conspiratorially, like he was plotting evil with a partner in crime that happened to be himself. He feels a sense of giddiness in the pit of his stomach grow into something bigger. He's been anticipating this night for months, waiting patiently and planning accordingly and now he can't believe he's actually about to pull it off. All the planning, all the decorating, all the expenses; they are gonna be so awesome and so worth it just for the look on his friends' faces when he drops the curtain and reveals that he was the puppet master the whole time. Oh man, it's gonna be hysterical.  

     He tries to remember the last time he felt this excited about anything. It had been a long time, that was for certain. Definitely before last year, before Hannah and Beth. He shook his head. Best not to dwell on that right now. He has to keep his head clear, for his performance's sake.

     No use in unraveling now. 

     Josh's eyes glint in the soft light reflecting from the snow as he glances around worriedly, like he's looking for a problem to surface. He'd double and triple-checked absolutely everything in his dry run to make sure it'd all go smoothly. He will not allow any negligence, not one tiny, needless mistake. This prank is going to be perfect. Josh won't allow any different; his sisters deserve more than that. He speeds his pace a little, eager to see everyone again, but most importantly, to get this show on the road. 

     Josh stumbles suddenly, having tripped on a fallen branch, but he quickly catches himself against the base of a tree. He'll have to watch where he's going. Can't afford to do something stupid like twist an ankle and ruin everything he's worked for. He huffs out a breath of foggy air, misting his vision for a few moments before going back to normal, and then continues on more carefully. Through an open passage in the tree tops he sees the stars, bright and minuscule in the vast, dark sky. It was a nice night, despite the wind and chill. He couldn't have asked for a better one, honestly.

     He feels his phone buzz in his pocket. It vibrates in a distinct pattern, one long buzz and two short. That means it's a text from either Sam or Chris. It's been a while since he's gotten a text from either of them; not since the response to his video-invite. In addition to that, Chris lately has stopped his regular check-in's he's been keeping a track record of since the girls went missing. Josh guesses it's because he's about to see him in person for the first time in those few months between thanksgiving break, Skype calls not counting. His brain supplies him with a ton of more reasons than that as to why Chris has stopped contacting him, but if he dwells on those then, well, there's that whole unraveling issue once again. 

     He fishes his phone out. 

**Cochise: Where are you, bro?**

     Speak of the devil. It's weird to see that name on his lock screen after so many months of nothing, but it's not an unwelcome sight, not in the slightest. His fingers are pretty stiff from the cold and he has a little trouble swiping his phone open, but he manages. He stops trudging for a moment in order to type out a reply.

**Josh Wash: im on my way. i know u must be so afraid all alone in the dark w/o me :(**

     The response is almost immediate, like it always is with tech-obsessed Chris. 

**Cochise: Psh, please, I don't need you to protect me.**

**I have Sam here to do that.**  

     Josh chuckles to himself, shaking his head. This banter between them comes easily, even through contextually-vague text messages, as it should. They've been best friends for the better part of eleven years. 

**Josh Wash: u replaced me with sam???? i am hurt christopher**

     He locks his phone with a click and shoves it back in his pocket to keep walking, starting to recognize exactly where he is and knowing how long it will take him to get there. He feels another buzz after taking the first few steps, but he just continues walking resolutely. After a few seconds he gives in though, and he's fishing it back out to check the response, stumbling blindly through the forest as the bright screen obscures his surroundings. The ground is shrouded in blackness.

 **Cochise: Well, then you'll just have to hurry your ass up.**  

**Josh Wash: chill ill be at the front of the lodge in like five min**

     He clicks his phone off again and doubles his pace. The wind blows the loose ends of his clothes, and they flap at will. He wraps his arms around himself and can feel a shiver start to reach deep into his bones. Josh probably should have taken some pointers from Chris and worn another layer or something. He fixes his beanie over his ears and breathes into his hands, rubbing them together. Too bad a large part of his master plan included being locked out, it's gotten fucking cold! Josh smiles smugly despite himself, knowing that it would hardly matter in the long run. There are more things to fear than freezing to death tonight. 

    One last message.

**Cochise: I'll wait for you.**

:::

     "You didn't wait for me?" 

     Josh stared down at the grotesquely bloody hands of his best friend, Chris. His fingers were dripping with the red gore and glistening brightly in the light of the garage's fluorescent overhead light, making it look all the more horrific and disgusting. 

     "Chris! Come on, you know this is one of my favorite parts!"

    Chris grinned, self-satisfied, down at the little white dress that he'd ruined so awesomely in the corn syrup concoction he and Josh created. They made a complete mess on Mrs. Washington's granite counter top, making it look like a literal crime scene, but Josh promised her he was going to clean everything up later. It was no wonder Mrs. Washington looked so concerned because, man, did this fake blood look convincing, and so real. It's a good thing Chris wasn't squeamish. Double taking to the dress, he admired his handiwork proudly. Though, after contemplation, he supposed he did feel a little guilty for finishing without the director. Josh continued to pout, and Chris shrugged, defensive.

     "Every part's your favorite part," He defended, a sheepish tone in his voice. Okay, maybe he'd gotten a little carried away with the blood, but at least he'd gotten the work done half as fast as if he'd waited for Josh to get back with the extra batteries for the video camera. Chris met eyes with the brunette's. "Besides, now it'll have more time to dry before Hannah has to put it on."

     "But now your hands are gonna be all stained . . ." Josh pointed out, and sighed, frustrated. Chris was playing the role of the hero today, not the killer. He couldn't start the scene with blood stained hands. That just wasn't going to work. Resigned, Josh grabbed his Sanyo Xacti HD1 camcorder and started putting in the new AAs he'd retrieved. "Just go try and wash it off in the sink, and use lots of soap."

     "On it!" Chris affirmed, walking past him to the door leading into the house but he stopped short. He looked to the brunette.  "Uh, little help here?"

     Josh glanced over from his fiddling with the camera's battery pack and took in Chris' crouched form. His wet hands were jutted out in front of him and he was stopped before the door knob, an apologetic smile on his face. Josh sighed again, and rolled his eyes, an unwilling smile coming on to his face as he marched over to open the door for the doofus. Chris laughed out loud at the silliness of the situation, some high, awkward, cracking thing that happens when your 11.5 years old and have just hit the worst period of your life. Josh laughed a little too, but he mostly just shook his head and afterwards resumed his ministrations on the camcorder.

     Seconds later, Beth came bustling into the garage, Hannah in tow behind. The younger of the twins looked less than enthused to be in a old dress sopping with blood. Horror movie wasn't Hannah first choice; she would be more privy to making her acting debut in a silly comedy or maybe a romance, something of the sort. However, considering the only leading man her brother had access to was Chris, the geeky, weird boy that had been stealing his attention since longer than she could remember . . . well, she could understand that much of Josh's argument in forgoing any ideas of a romantic comedy. That, in combination with the fact that there was no way she could convince Josh to do anything other than his passion. Conveniently, their father's extra equipment and expertise upped the production quality and even helped them come up with ideas for the story. In summary, Hannah puppy dog eyes were not going to sway him this time. 

     As for Josh, well, he was pretty at odds with the whole sister situation. On the one hand, he preferred to work on this project and have fun with Chris instead of having to babysit. It's not that he didn't love his little sisters, but they were often as annoying as they were good at convincing their mom to make Josh play with them and include them in his exploits. That was not a fun conversation to have, right after Han and Beth tattled on him for shooing them away when they were still at the drawing board.

     He was trying to focus then, and couldn't afford to be distracted by Beth's makeover, courtesy of Hannah. He just wasn't in the mood to cater to the ten-year-olds, not when he was having guy time with his best bro. Although, all it took was one stern look from Melinda Washington for Josh's defense to come crumbling around him like the Chips Ahoy cookies Beth was munching on furiously at the time. The older brother knew that if he fought back, it would just lead to some tears he didn't want to see and his mom getting even more mad at him for being selfish. So, trapped between a rock and a hard place, he gave in.

     Now, on the other hand, he'd just seen The Shining not too long ago, and Josh was taking some inspiration from Kubrick's classic flick. His head was swimming with ideas of how he could add twins to the film in order to up the creepiness factor of everything. Beth and Hannah's involvement was turning out to be a little more helpful than anticipated. 

     Chris had stood in the sidelines during the entire debacle, letting the Washington kid work his magic and manage the situation the best way he could. So far, it was paying off, or so he could tell. After all, Josh was the one with all the good ideas; Chris was just along for the ride. 

     Beth, ever the headstrong one, barged into her brothers space to get his attention.

     "Are we ready to do a shoot yet?" She asked with the utmost confidence in her knowledge of film making vernacular, causing Josh to laugh in spite of her. She seemed a little offended. It was obvious she was not being taken seriously, but before she got the chance to say anything, Hannah spoke up. 

     "Is this what I'm s'pose to wear?" She was gesturing to the dress Chris had bloodied, still wet and dripping. Jeez, Cochise, Josh thought to himself distractedly, really taking in the mess he'd made of the old thing they'd bought from Good Will with his dad. Overkill much? But it wasn't as if they could take it back now, so he was just gonna go with it. Hannah didn't seem to have the same philosophy in mind, though. "It's gonna get all over my shoes, Josh." She whined, concerned for her brand new white and pink sketchers that lit up when she stomped particularly hard. 

     "Then you can take off your shoes, okay? How bout that?" Josh's voice was exasperated. He was focusing on things other than the sake of his little sisters shoes. He took a look at the two girls through the viewfinder of the camcorder, and Beth made a face with her tongue sticking so far out of her mouth it looked like it probably hurt. She was trying to touch it to the tip of her nose, and Hannah just pouted beside her. "It will look better for the camera anyway without your feet lighting up. You're supposed to be a ghoul, Han, remember?"

     "Dad said we're not allowed to take our shoes off in the garage." Hannah argued, face soured with worry and uncertainty. She was very much a goody-goody, a stark contrast to her more rambunctious and free-spirited twin, and didn't like to do things when she knew she could get in trouble for it. She was also pretty sure this rule was in place for a good reason.  "There could be nails and things." 

     "Don't worry, Bananah." He said, flexing his arm and admiring an almost non-existent bicep. "Big Brother Josh will protect you."

     Hannah crossed her arms, unconvinced.

     Just then, the voice of an over-compensating, prepubescent geek rang out and reverberated in the open space of the garage, sounding way too confident to be serious and way too cool to be Chris. And yet—

     "Don't worry, everyone!" Chris announced, a sigh in his voice. "The star has arrived with officially clean hands."

     He stuck them into the air way above his head to prove his point, and Josh was almost impressed at how clean they actually were. He was sure they were going to be as stained as Beth's mouth was when she chugged all the Kool Aid from the stand her and Hannah ran over the summer. 

     "Did you wash them in acid or something?" Josh snorts, a derisive look on his face and Chris just smirks triumphantly. "Hey, get over here." He calls, "I wanna test the lighting in here."

     "I am ready for my close up!" Chris shouts, obnoxious and overly dramatic, making Beth giggle and Josh just roll his eyes again, probably for the eight time that day. It so far has been a trying experience for him, but now it was about to pay off, now that they could officially get started with the filming aspect of it all. Chris marched forward to the camera so the brunette can work his magic. 

     "Actually, it's a test shot." He corrected, but Chris was either not listening or he was too distracted by the display on Josh's camcorder to notice he was being corrected. 

     "Wow, it's so high res!" Chris rattled excitedly, eyes wide while taking in the quality of the camera as seen on the display screen which Josh had so casually pointed in his direction. The blonde had a certain fascination with the tech that Josh had, or rather, that Josh's father could afford. That was because the stuff he had was usually the latest and most expensive hardware on the market. Josh didn't think of it as a big deal, but then again, Josh was a Washington and Chris was just Chris Hartley, upper middle class with his family doing pretty well, no complaints— but anybody is bad off compared to the wife and children of one of the most famous up and coming film producers in California. The two boys didn't let this difference hurt their relationship, though.  In fact, it gave them something to bond over, as Josh would often ask his dad for new things that Chris had previously expressed interest for. This particular camcorder was more for Josh, though. It was something he'd been asking about for awhile now, and owning it gave him a little boost in the start of his film career. Of course, that didn't mean that Chris didn't want to assist in the process of making the movie. 

     "Yeah, my dad told me it's something like 5,000,000 pixels in this bad boy."

     "Technocity!" Chris exclaimed, eyes blown wide and smile blown wider. He patted his friend on the arm. "Well, alright, Spielberg. Let's see what you can do with it."

     Josh shrugs. "I'm more of a Scorsese, but sure, let's do it."

     The whole filming process was less than easy, and by less than easy, that meant Beth wouldn't stop laughing, Chris kept forgetting his lines, and Hannah was convinced that she had somehow gotten a splinter in her foot. Josh was not having it, the frustrations of being a director. After a while, he ended up calling cut for the last time.

     "Han and Beth, take five. Chris, can you come here for a second?"

     "What's up?" Chris questioned, walking up to him as soon as the girls left the garage to grab some snacks. 

     Josh had the expression of someone who just saw a car crash. He was tired of this project, unable to reign in his cast and keep his head. Anymore funny business and he was gonna snap, and then his sisters would tell on him. It wasn't looking to be a great time. Also, Chris, as good of a guy as he was, couldn't act for shit.

     "Listen, I think it's time we blow this thing. It's not going anywhere."

     Chris seemed unsure. "Really? 'Cause I thought you were super psyched about this."

     "Keyword: 'were.' come on, how about we ride our bikes into town and stop by our favorite place."

     Then the blonde had a hint of a smile on his lips. "Gamestop?"

     "Gamestop," Josh grinned in answer, setting his camera down onto the prop table, ready to grab his dirt bike before Melinda Washington was calling the boy's name a few paces from the garage door. It opened, and his mom poked her head into the door frame fiercely.

     "Joshua Washington, can you explain this mess you left in the kitchen?" She said sternly, staring him down as he was about to mount his bike. 

     Both boys froze, caught in the act, and Mel crossed her arms in disapproval that was palpable. That was the day Chris and Josh spent the entire afternoon scrubbing Mrs. Washington's counter and floor.

     That was also the day Josh learned that he even a director needed to learn how to clean up after himself, or there would be hell to pay. He also learned that not everything would come tied up neat in a little bow. 

     If only that information would had been there to aid him in the future, well . . . He may have never gotten himself into such a mess. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews would be awesome if you're feeling up to it. I have about nine or ten chapters planned out. Let me know if I should keep going.
> 
>  
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here.](https://intrepidem.tumblr.com/)


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